Book Review: Shikhandi by Devdutt Pattanaik

There is perhaps a law of diminishing returns with an author. Look at John Grisham - the same guy who gave the world classics such as 'The Rainmaker' or 'The Testament' - also wrote absolute putrid shit such as 'The Summons', 'The King of Torts' or his latest 'Theodore Boone' book series.

It is perhaps a disservice to Pattanaik that this is the first book of his that I read. I know this is perhaps not the book Pattanaik is known (or perhaps even wants to be known) for, but it was such a snoozeworthy bore, that I was left questioning the investment I had already made in one more of his books.

'Shikhandi and other stories' reads like one of those high school textbooks that force you to go through twenty chapters of short stories and have lengthy "Chapter Summaries" or "Bhavarth" (in hindi) sections at the end. Pattanaik does a great job with his research but the book unfortunately reads more like a thesis and less like a book.

But what the hell, it's Devdutt Pattanaik. Even if he writes a book that has just punctuation marks, it will sell.

Like John Grisham.

Or Chetan Bhagat.